Diesel landspeed record broken with JCB engines

The British JCB team smashed the world diesel landspeed record yesterday with a vehicle powered by two digger engines fitted with twin turbos. Wing Commander Andy Green, a Harrier pilot based at RAF Wittering in Lincolnshire, drove the slender yellow JCB Dieselmax to an average speed of 328.767mph during two runs on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

The previous record was held by an American, Virgil Snyder. In 1997, Mr Green broke the sound barrier on land when he piloted the jet-powered Thrust SSC car to a speed of 763.035mph to claim the world landspeed record.